


Fireflies

by 06_blue_eyed_boys_28



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Eleven | Jane Hopper Loves Mike Wheeler, F/M, Fireflies, Insomnia, Mike Wheeler Loves Eleven | Jane Hopper, Mileven, Mileven being adorable, Pining, Slow Burn, Soft Mike Wheeler, Song fic, Song: Fireflies (Owl City), but its not, dancing under the stars, every breath you take, first I love you, its late lol, mike is obsessed with astronomy, mileven fluff, wth is sleep and who needs it anyway
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-13
Updated: 2020-02-13
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:20:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22689133
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/06_blue_eyed_boys_28/pseuds/06_blue_eyed_boys_28
Summary: who needs sleep when there are fireflies to look at, dances to be had, and i love yous to be said?aka mike doesn't know what to do with his feelings, el just doesn't wanna be alone, and nancy is none the wiserlisten to fireflies by owl city for the full experience :)
Relationships: Eleven | Jane Hopper/Mike Wheeler
Comments: 2
Kudos: 28





	Fireflies

Mike couldn’t fall asleep. No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn’t. There were too many possibilities for DnD campaigns running around in his head, along with thoughts of what would be for breakfast tomorrow, plans for Sunday night, and… 

Eleven. Of course, the petite, brunette girl he had rescued that fateful night back in 1983 occupied most of his thoughts. 

He rolled over, hugging his pillow to his chest and sighing. He attempted sleep for five more minutes before chucking the pillow across the room and quite simply giving up. 

He walked over to the window, opening the blinds so he could look at the moon. It’s vastness and brightness has never failed to calm him down before, so why would it be any different tonight?

The stars also fascinated him to no end. They could be exploding right now and nobody would even notice.  _ Well, at least not for a few more years _ , he mused. They were so bright and big and there were  _ so  _ many of them. Oh, and did he mention how far away they were? It’s like they’re in their own little world, floating balls of white-hot gas just hanging out up there, waiting to explode and be replaced. It was a cycle, and it might’ve seemed dark to some, but to him it was enlightening and comforting and endlessly fascinating. 

Mike closed his eyes, taking a deep, calming breath with his new sight and understanding of the stars.

He crossed the room to grab his walkie talkie, turning it on to see if anybody was awake. 

No one was. 

Go figure. It was 2 a.m. on a Saturday night, who was going to be a-

“Mike?” a small voice asked. 

_ wake.  _

“El?” he asked back. 

“Yes,” she replied immediately. “I have a question.”

“Go for it,” he said, smiling and no longer frustrated by his lack of sleep. Now, this didn’t happen often, but every once in a while Hopper would forget to take her walkie talkie before bed and she could call him at whatever time and talk to him for however long she wanted. They usually ended up falling asleep together on call sometime during the night, and he loved those nights. When they’d say goodnight but he’d forget to turn off the walkie talkie, and her voice was the first thing he woke up to.

“What are the bright things outside?” she asked innocently.

“The bright things…” he trailed off, thinking. “Oh! The stars. They’re stars, El, and they’re so beautiful. They’re up in the sky, y’know? And they’re so bright, it can be hard to look at them for a long time-”

“No, Mike, not stars,” she said patiently and seriously. “I know stars.” A pause. “The flying things. They… flicker…?” she left that sentence open, because she wasn’t entirely sure what that meant.

“Yeah, flicker is right. They flicker? Uhm… Oh! Oh, you mean fireflies?” 

“Fireflies,” she said slowly, trying out the new word. “Yeah.”

“They’re pretty, aren’t they?” he said, walking back over to his window to stare at the fireflies she had just spoken of, and biting his lip to keep from calling  _ her  _ pretty. He’d save that for when he could see her. 

“They’re dancing, right Mike?”

He loved the way she saw and thought of the world. Everything was beautiful, happy, and good.

He thought the fireflies were simply flying. 

She believed they were dancing. 

“Of course they are,” he replied, seeing them the way she did. They were beautiful, like the stars, but in a very different way. They were living, and calling out to each other. Like a song, but without the music.

“To what song?”

He racked his brain to think of a fitting song. “How about…” he suddenly remembered their first dance, at the SnowBall. “Every Breath You Take by The Police.”

“That’s a pretty good song,” she said. “Actually, it’s my favorite.”

“Mine too,” he said, not able to stop the smile that came with that sentence. And not wanting to.

He stood there and stared at the stars and the fireflies, mouth open in slight shock because of the beauty of simple nature. There was silence for a few moments, and he was half-scared she fell asleep and he was alone with his thoughts again, until she spoke:

“I wanna dance, too. Like the fireflies.”

There were a million things he could’ve said to that. 

I would love to, El, but it’s too late. I’d love to El, I’ll be right there. I love  _ you _ , El-

Nope. No, he-

“That sounds amazing.”

“Why can’t we?” she asked.

“It’s… late,” he said sadly. “The parents will be mad.”

“Oh.” The utter defeat in her voice was too much for him to take.

“Y’know what? Nevermind. I’ll be there in a few minutes, and I’ll be back before 5 and no one will even know I was gone. I’ll see you in a few. I-”

_ I love you. _

“I’ll see you in a few.”

“See you.”

He grabbed a random shirt from off his floor and threw it on, not bothering to change out of his fluffy blue pajama pants. It was 2 a.m., and besides, she wouldn't care.

He walked down the stairs as quickly and quietly as he could, grabbed his bike and a firefly catcher of Holly’s out of the garage. And then he was on his way. 

El tackled him with a hug as soon as she saw him. He felt the blood rush to his cheeks. 

“Hi, El,” he said softly.

“Y’know, it gets lonely here around this time of night,” she said matter-of-factly. 

“I know,” he said. “I missed you.”

“I missed you, too.”

“Now, c’mon! There’s fireflies to see!” she exclaimed abruptly, suddenly remembering the whole reason for his late-night visit.

He smiled and took her hand as she led him into the backyard.

There were so many more of them then there were in his yard.

“Holy cow, El. There’s a lot!”

“I know, right?” she said, excited. “And they’re  _ so  _ pretty. Now, dance with me Mike!”

She took his hands and put them on her waist, pulling her arms up to hook around his neck. He smiled down at her and let her lead him.

At first it was weird, dancing with no music, but then he started humming under his breath lightly, and she picked up her pace and that encouraged him to start singing.

_ Every breath you take and every move you make _

_ Every bond you break, every step you take, I'll be watching you _

_ Every single day and every word you say _

_ Every game you play, every night you stay, I'll be watching you _

After a while they stopped dancing, opting to lay down on the grass underneath a tall tree. 

“That was fun,” El murmured. 

Mike hugged her tightly to his chest. “Yeah. I never thought I’d say this, but I like dancing. Only with you, though.”

“Me too.” She didn’t mention that up until last year, she didn’t even know what dancing was. 

She didn’t need to. He held her hand and understood how much these moments meant to her.

These private moments that were theirs and theirs only, where he taught her new words and held her and sometimes, they even kissed, and gosh if he could just tell her already how much he loved her-

“Mike, look,” she said, pointing to the grass. “The fireflies… they…?”

Some of the fireflies had started to fly back down to the grass, and their flickering patterns had gotten farther and farther apart. 

“Looks like fireflies need sleep, too, El,” he said with a nervous laugh. He really didn’t wanna go home and go to bed. He honestly didn’t think he could do it. He just felt so lonely and tired at home, but when he was here, or… anywhere with her, it just felt like everything was okay and right again.

“Why don't we go to bed at this time?” Eleven asked.

“We’re… different,” Mike tried, not really knowing how to phrase insomnia. “Some people don't like to go to bed, or can’t, for that matter.”

“Mike, I don't want the fireflies to go away,” she said quietly. Not whining. No, never. She was just sad, was all. Just didn’t want the lights to go out at the end of the night.

He suddenly remembered Holly’s firefly catcher he had brought along, just in case this happened.

“Hold on, El. I have just the thing. I’ll be right back.” So he sprinted as fast as he could to grab the firefly catcher and take it back to his girl.

“What is it?” she asked.

“It’s a firefly catcher,” he explained gently. “It provides a nice, little, temporary home for the fireflies so that nobody gets lonely, including you.” He gave her a kiss on the cheek at this, and wow, bold move Michael- 

She just smiled, and crawled over to the thicker patches of grass. They picked up fireflies together in silence, and deposited them into the catcher, where they would blink for a few more hours to come and be released, healthy and happy, during late-early morning.

They slowly made their way pack over to their patch of grass, where Mike laid his head on El’s lap and she absentmindedly threaded her fingers through his hair. 

“Mike?” she asked.

“Hm…?” he replied, not even realizing he was peacefully drifting off.

“Don't fall asleep.”

“I won’t.”

“I don't want you to leave.”

“I- oh shit, El, uh… what time is it?” He sat abruptly and checked his watch. 5:04. He had to get back in his room and in his bed before his mom woke up at six and came in to check on him which would be in about 56 minutes.

Now 55. 

“I have to leave,” he said.

“Okay,” she said. Her tone was the same as always, but her eyes, those deep, baby-brown eyes that he loved so much showed her true feelings of abandonment and sadness.

“But it’s gonna be alright, okay? You’ve got your fireflies, and your walkie talkie. Call me as soon as you get inside and I’ll talk to you on my way home, and we can talk for as long as you like once I get home, okay? I l-”

He almost said it.

“I’ll talk to you in a bit. Is that alright?”

She nodded. “Thank you.”

“Of course,” he said.  _ Anything for you. _

They talked on the way home, and he only turned off his walkie talkie for 6 minutes at 6 o’clock, when his mom stepped foot in his room. He had a lot of practice pretending to be asleep. This time was no different. Covers on, breathing steady, nothing suspicious.

_ Definitely didn’t sneak out last night to dance with the girl that I love and the ever-present supply of fireflies in her backyard _ , he thought.

It was 7:15 when yawns started getting more frequent than words.

“I’m tired now, Mike,” El said. 

He was too.

Tired of holding back.

Not saying his true feelings.

How hard could it be?

Three simple words.

But what if she didn’t even know what it meant? What if she asked Hopper? What if she didn’t love him back? What if she did? What then? Were-

“Okay. Sleep well.”

“Goodnight.”

“I l-”

_ I love you. _

“I love you,” he said at last, a huge weight being lifted off his shoulders. 

“I love you, too,” she replied simply, but he could hear the smile in her voice. “See you tomorrow.”

She said it back. He wanted to scream. She said it back, and she knew what it meant, and holy shit he was in love!

He was in love. 

And now that he knew that, he was exhausted. But he was also hungry. 

He walked downstairs to grab a bowl of cereal, and Nancy was none the wiser when she walked downstairs to find her little brother asleep with his face pressed up against the granite, two empty cereal bowls beside him. 

She laughed and guided him by his shoulders to the couch, knowing how tired he was. 

She was up for half the night with him, listening through their very thin walls. 

She knew he was in love.

And she couldn’t have been happier.


End file.
